Noodler´s Ahab - Ease My Flex Mod

[Cryptos]

This one is wondering why Noodler's don't adopt one or some of these modifications and produce a pen that doesn't require further fiddling.

[cobalt]

EOC is absolutely right!

 

I bought one of these pens and consider it a total waste of money. Unless, of course, you like kit pens and fiddling. Certainly, the nibs are not for writers as there are much better nibs out there. I got two nibs with the pen as though somehow that was telling me something. (perhaps like the spare tire that comes with cars?)

 

As for Ahab himself, he was dysfunctional in his pursuit of the white whale and which led to his demise in the end. Perhaps they think the pen should be used as a harpoon? Or is Noodlers suggesting something darker?

[TeaHive]

Oh, I haven't looked at this so long that EMF has become alien to me. I was doing it at the beginning.

 

Hehe, I don't think I need to expand on the EMF, then.

 

For carving the feed with an X-acto knife or other razor blade, I just gently scrape at the top channel to widen it on both inner edges. And for the fins, just run the blade through them to make sure they all open to the top channel for sure. I guess sometimes, you don't want as heavy a flow, so making the fins reach to the bottom channel is optional.

[Pterodactylus]

EOC is absolutely right!

 

I bought one of these pens and consider it a total waste of money. Unless, of course, you like kit pens and fiddling. Certainly, the nibs are not for writers as there are much better nibs out there. I got two nibs with the pen as though somehow that was telling me something. (perhaps like the spare tire that comes with cars?)

 

As for Ahab himself, he was dysfunctional in his pursuit of the white whale and which led to his demise in the end. Perhaps they think the pen should be used as a harpoon? Or is Noodlers suggesting something darker?

 

 

 

(Serwex MB flex EMF ..... ESS Registrars Blue Black)

[Pterodactylus]

been a lurker for a bit, first time posting here. i thought i'd share my experience with this mod as it really helped me making my ahab useful

some info on the process: i used a dremmel with a round metal head. it took me about an hour to get both sides right. maybe my tools were less appropriate for the job than OP's. in the original post, a cut-in of about 10mm long is suggested. i found this to be a bit too long for my particular pen. if i want the nib to fit snugly into the barrel, i have to put part of the incision into the barrel. this doesn't harm the pen or the mod, but it makes the nib very hard to take out as it snags on the plastic that is holding it in place. i also think it will wear out the plastic over time if i take the nib out too often. other than that, every measurement was perfect.

getting the flow right is tricky. at first i needed to more flow so i opened a channel in the feed. (i didn't need it when the pen was unmodded) now the pen actually flows too much. on a lot of papers i get a lot of feathering of the ink. so i have to be careful how i use it now. the strange thing is that even though the flow is plenty, every now and then the pen does railroad when i really put it to the test. this might be due to my technique rather than the pen. you can see in my writing sample that i'm still a novice at flex writing.

 

here's a writing sample. i only noticed i spelled Quink wrong after i took the picture...

http://i.imgur.com/9atwfOT.jpg

 

 

Thibault, I suggest to try a drier ink, like an Iron Gall ink.

This will also fix your feathering issue (on cheaper paper), the IG inks work great on cheap paper even if you lay down a large amount of ink (which is the case when you flex it).

 

As it still railroads I think your flow is even too low if the feed can´t keep up (but this is always an issue with these pens, to tinker the feed right is much more difficult than modifying the nib).

When you go back quite a lot pages you can see how deep I made my ink channel and that I cut some fins.

 

I´m happy you like the EMF mod.

[thibault]

 

 

Thibault, I suggest to try a drier ink, like an Iron Gall ink.

This will also fix your feathering issue (on cheaper paper), the IG inks work great on cheap paper even if you lay down a large amount of ink (which is the case when you flex it).

 

As it still railroads I think your flow is even too low if the feed can´t keep up (but this is always an issue with these pens, to tinker the feed right is much more difficult than modifying the nib).

When you go back quite a lot pages you can see how deep I made my ink channel and that I cut some fins.

 

I´m happy you like the EMF mod.

i think i'm going to try heat setting the feed. i didn't need to do it pre-EMF. maybe i screwed up the nib a bit while tinkering with it or maybe the added flex is just more picky about it's feed . i guess that making the nib and feed best friends again by heat setting will stabilise the flow

[dogpoet]

This one is wondering why Noodler's don't adopt one or some of these modifications and produce a pen that doesn't require further fiddling.

Because that would cost money, and you can't expect that of a manufacturer who's too cheap to even do any quality control.

[Brooks MT]

"wondering why Noodler's don't adopt one or some of these modifications and produce a pen that doesn't require further fiddling."

 

1) Because Noodler pens are specifically designed to be fiddled with, according to Nathan Tardiff. If you don't want to customize your pen to fit your writing style/needs/desires, then buy one of the Chinese, good-to-go pens.

 

2) The pens will write out of the box; at least my dozen or so have done so. I think if the "terrible quality" accusation was universal, my experience would have been different. Now, the pens needed cleaning, but that is not an onerous task, and is something I'd do anyway...just the way I am. I learned to modify my pens, using Pterodactylus' brilliant mod, and am pleased as punch. The pens were cheap enough that my Scottish ancestors would not haunt me if I screwed one up beyond all fixing :-). But, thanks to my research, and thanks to the great posters on this and other web sites, I didn't screw any of them up. Did I make my luck, or did it just happen?

 

"you can't expect that of a manufacturer who's too cheap to even do any quality control."

 

I'm sorry your pen(s) did not meet your expectations. Mine did, I guess you were unlucky.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Brooks MT

[dogpoet]

Obviously I was unlucky: I bought a Noodler's pen.

[CloaknDagr]

Obviously I was unlucky: I bought a Noodler's pen.

 

That's not a matter of luck, it's a matter of choices.

 

I have a single Ahab, it's worked up and modified as much as it can be. It was a fun and interesting challange to get it where it is today. It is by no means even in the neighborhood of my favoite pens and I do not use it on a regular basis. Other than the fun of seeing if I could get it to actually flex (something it does very, very poorly straight out of the box), it's pretty much underwhelming.

 

The flex on the pen and line variation is as good as any you'll see posted in this topic, but it does not write "naturally" with a good flexy line. You have to work at it, you have to pay attention to the pressure you're exerting on the nib, the paper and ink are even more critical than usual with fountain pens (and in general that's already pretty critical), it is a pen that requires extra effort in almost all it's aspects.

 

My Great-Grandmother's little Waterman 52 1/2 V is a flex pen, a true flex pen and writes like the proverbial "wet noodle". It does so gracefully and naturally with no extra thought or effort on the part of the writer. I can just pick that little pen up and write with it giving no thought to anything but my words and it lays a gorgeous, variable line. So that's the "gold standard" and incidentally the gold nib that I have the privilege of owning and for me that's the top of the pinnacle in flex pens. There may be other, better flexers but I don't own any.

 

I don't expect the Ahab to do what an antique gold flex nib will do, that would be silly of me. One of the problems with communicating in forums like this is you have to cover all the bases or someone jumps in and says "Well, you can't compare a $20 Ahab to an antique gold nibbed flexy wet noodle". Actually, I can if I like. It's just that the comparison to be fair needs to be a fraction of the ideal. On the standard scale of 1 - 100 with the Waterman being 100, the Ahab rates about a 20.

 

It's not all that impressive considering that you can buy a Waterman 52 1/2 V pen on eBay for around $35 or so. Something you REALLY need to keep in mind if you do that is you're going to HAVE to work on that Waterman quite a bit too. The mechanical aspects of the 52 1/2 pens are dead simple and reliable, unless the pen has been seriously abused it can be restored to being a great wirter. You're going to have to clean the living daylights out of it, you're going to have to replace the ink sac, etc. You would do well to look for a couple of scrap pens for parts too. If you want a mint condition Waterman in that model you're going to have to pay around $300 - $500, which makes it well worth the work but still ... you have to be able to do the work. If you have to pay someone else to get your pen writing for you that defeats the cost-saving aspect also.

 

Which is where an Ahab comes in. For around $20 you can dink with an Ahab to your heart's content. The worst that can/might happen is you'll have to buy a new feed and nib. You'll get to know a flex pen from the inside out and back again and you're not tinkering blindly with an out-of-production antique.

 

There are people who are in love with the Ahab and I don't mean to disparage their pens or themselves. If you love the Ahab that's great. To each his/her own and live and let live, all that stuff. But PLEASE bear in mind that there are going to be people who don't love it quite as much as you do and we're not inept, incompetent or insane. In my not-so-humble opinion the Ahab is a fun tinkering platform but an underwhelming flex pen. The Ahab can be very frustrating, for a while I called mine "The Aggravating Ahab". It holds a ton of ink but so do my TWSBIs and as "natural" writers go, they write a LOT better but with no flex. I have a Platinum Century #3776 that flexes as well out of the box as the Ahab does after extensive work, but it cost a lot more too. I generally don't even try to flex write with that Platinum and that pen is not marketed as a flex pen.

 

The Ahab has it's place and for some people that place is going to be very high. Not everyone is going to see it that way. So I sincerely hope that people do some research, read this topic all the way through, and try to formulate a reasonable expectation for the Ahab. I bought my Ahab a while ago, to have a flex pen I didn't mind carrying because I don't won't take my antique heirlooms off my desk. For me the Ahab is more a "yawn" than a "wow". The Ahab is never, ever going to be a wet noodle so don't think you're going to get that even with the EMF mod. If you're willing to put in the time and the effort, if you're willing to learn how to write with a pen like the Ahab, then the Ahab can be a lot of fun.

 

If you think you're going to make a couple cuts in the side of the nib, dig out some hard rubber from the feed, and end up with a really super-duper flex pen like Great-Grandma's Waterman ... That's not happening. If it were possible to do that my opinion of the Ahab would be completely different because I've done everything to this Ahab that can be done to it without destroying it. As a flexy pen it's still not all that impressive to me. Your mileage may vary.

Edited December 17, 2015 by CloaknDagr

[Brooks MT]

CloaknDagr, that is one of the best "Ahab vs the World" reports I've ever read on this Forum. It was balanced, it was based on your personal experience, and it covered the plus/minus aspect very well. Thank you for spending your time writing.

[Fabienne]

Here! Here! Brooks MT. I agree wholeheartedly.

[CloaknDagr]

CloaknDagr, that is one of the best "Ahab vs the World" reports I've ever read on this Forum. It was balanced, it was based on your personal experience, and it covered the plus/minus aspect very well. Thank you for spending your time writing.

You're welcome Brooks, my pleasure.

 

Nathan Tardiff designed the Ahab as a tinkering platform. He succeeded admirably in achieving that goal. If you tinker with the Ahab a lot you can actually get it to flex and if you put some work into how you use it you can get a nice, flexy variable line. Mr. Tardiff didin't take any "shortcuts", he didn't cheap-out on quality control, all the Ahab pens I've seen have been identical and made exactly the same way except for coloration. They're consistent and they are identical enough that what works for one will generally work for all the others also.

 

It's not fair to accuse Mr. Tardiff and Co. of ignoring quality control, selling a junk pen, or any of the other sleights I've seen written about the Ahab. Those things simply are not true, though with first hand experience in how aggravating it can be to get this pen dialed in, it's understandable that people would get frustrated. That said -- Frustration does not justify slander.

 

The Ahab is a little bit flexy but not at all sexy. It's an enthusiasts project pen, and in that aspect it fulfills it's role well. Mr. Tardiff sells this pen with two nibs for a very good reason.

 

It was very considerate and helpful for Pterodactylus to post instructions, photos and everything else. That was a great help in modding this pen and saved a lot of people from ruining a pile of Ahabs as we each worked this out independently. Starting with Pterodactlylus' having done all the heavy lifting and making the grevious mistakes saved the rest of us from having to do those things ourselves. I'm very grateful to Pterodactylus for the outstanding effort.

 

I'm also grateful for the civility and urbanity of the people who post to this forum. I try hard to rise above my own curmudgeonly cynicism and meet that high standard. So I wanted to be fair about what I said about the Ahab.

 

I still use my Ahab, it's a great pen for doodling and mucking about just for the sheer joy of using a fountain pen. I won't buy another Ahab but I do not regret buying this one.

Edited December 18, 2015 by CloaknDagr

[Pterodactylus]

@ CloagnDagr

 

 

(Waterman BCHR 12 1/2 ..... Diamine Ancient Copper)

(Serwex MB flex EMF ..... ESS Registrars Blue-Black)

 

 

I have a lot vintage flex nibs and I consider this Waterman 12 1/2 as one of the best, maybe even the best vintage easy full flex nib I own.

I love this fantastic nib, it is a pleasure to write, it always keep up, it flexes very easy, is very smooth, not to wet (often a problem with these old Watermans) you can write at full speed and automatically the pen and my hand merge to an integrated unit, not a single thought is needed for the pen and how to use it, you simply write with it ..... for me the perfect nib.

 

Look at my writing and then tell me that the modern FPR EMF nib can´t compete with this vintage beauty !

For sure it can !!!

 

I also really like the FPR EMF nib and it´s characteristic, it´s also great to write with this modern modded nib (each nib has it´s own characteristic).

What is not a pleasure is the feed, it can´t keep up for more than a couple of lines at full speed.

 

Of course the Serwex can´t compete aesthetically with the Waterman, it´s a cheap pen with many design flaws, cheap materals and poor quality.

But the result of the writing for sure can compete.

Modern modded flex nibs are not automatically worse than vintage ones.

And this FPR EMF nib outperforms many vintage ones.

 

And it´s for sure no question of Steel versus Gold.

There are also many excellent vintage Steel nibs not worse than the Gold ones.

Many Steel dip nibs outperform by far whatever Gold nib you may have with respect to their flex capabilities.

 

Do I like the Waterman more than the Serwex or the Ahab?

FOR SURE

 

Can the FPR EMF nib compete with excellent vintage flex nibs?

FOR SURE

 

 

 

If you don´t agree, prove me wrong and provide a writing sample of an vintage full flex nib which clearly outperform the EMF modded nib in the writing results.

[CloaknDagr]

@ CloagnDagr

...

 

Do I like the Waterman more than the Serwex or the Ahab?

FOR SURE

 

Can the FPR EMF nib compete with excellent vintage flex nibs?

FOR SURE

 

 

 

If you don´t agree, prove me wrong and provide a writing sample of an vintage full flex nib which clearly outperform the EMF modded nib in the writing results.

I'm sorry if I ruffled your feathers, Pterodactylus. You put a lot of time and effort into this EMF mod and I did say I'm grateful for what you've done and shared with everyone.

 

You seem to have missed my point. I never said that the Ahab (I don't have any other modern flex nibs so I can't speak to them) could not write a flexed line comparable to the Waterman. In fact, I said just the opposite because I said that my Ahab will write as good a variable line as can be seen in any of the posted handwriting samples in this topic. Thus there is no point in posting a writing sample, the sample will look every bit as good yours if I care to make the extra effort with the Ahab. There's nothing to "prove you wrong" about regarding what the pen can do with careful and skillful application, so it's obvious you didn't understand what I was saying. My bad, I'll try to clear that up.

 

I said the Ahab does not do so naturally with no effort and that the PEN is unimpressive. My Ahab will write just like your sample, IF I take the time and make the effort to make it do that. It does not do that naturally and effortlessly like my Waterman. I am not impressed with the pen or the way it writes as a whole package. As a total writing experience the Ahab, even fully modified, does not impress me. Yes, it can be made to lay a line as good as the Waterman, no it does not do that anywhere as well as the Waterman as a total of the overall package and writing experience.

 

I am not so in love with a variable flex line that I can be bothered to concentrate on every stroke to get the flex in there where it should be. If I'm going to write with a flex nib I'll use my Waterman, the Ahab just doesn't do it for me. It does not give me an EDC (Every Day Carry) flex nib that to ME is worth the extra effort. I have other EDC pens* that do not flex but write much better overall than the Ahab. I was hoping the Ahab would give me an EDC flex pen. It doesn't make the grade for that. Which relegates it to my desk and if I'm at my desk and I want to do fancy flex nib writing I'll use the Waterman. With the Waterman the words go from my mind to the paper effortlessly with no thought of the pen between brain and page. That is not the case with the Ahab.

 

(* I.E. -- I have a Nemosine with a stub italic nib that lays a gorgeous variable line effortlessly and it didn't need any tinkering at all. Please don't bother pointing out that a stub and a flex nib are apples and oranges, I know that already.)

 

The Ahab was a fun, interesting, worthwhile experiment. I enjoyed tinkering with it. I do not regret buying it. I appreciate your effort in developing the EMF modification and sharing it. People who do not own an antique Waterman flex nib will greatly profit from using your modification of the Ahab pen if they want to write with a flex nib. Your mod is essential to that because out of the box the Ahab is a disappointingly rigid nail.

 

The Waterman is a natural and it seems we both agree on that point.

 

("Do I like the Waterman more than the Serwex or the Ahab?

FOR SURE")

 

It seems to me that we're more in agreement than not on that point.

 

("Can the FPR EMF nib compete with excellent vintage flex nibs?

FOR SURE")

 

... as far as the line it's capable of laying with care and diligence, true. Not so true regarding the ease and grace with which it lays that line. You can get there with the Ahab, but it's like driving a semi-truck compared to a Ferrari. It's that "driving experience" I was talking about in my above posts.

 

It doesn't impress me, reading this topic I'm not alone in that perspective. I just wanted people to realize what they're getting with the Ahab so their expectations would be realistic. I'm not slagging on your mod or the Ahab pen, this is all my opinion. I've given the Ahab extensive opportunity and modified it as much as it can be modded, at the end of the day my opinion is that it's not impressive. Your mileage may vary. That's fine and you're certainly entitled to your opinion on the matter. Writing samples do not at all affect that because for me it's not about the line, it's about the experience.

 

Now, all of that said ... Your "fool with a tool" quip is uncivil, uncalled for and unappreciated. There is no need for you to be rude. You have no idea of the "level of my skill" and skill wasn't relevant to my point in any case. You did a great job coming up with this modification, it is sad that your ingenuity badly overshadows your courtesy.

Edited December 24, 2015 by CloaknDagr

[RwindleIII]

This is awesome. Great post

[butterfei]

new user chiming in here, and going on a complete tangent-- if you have small hands and small handwriting, skipping the ahab (and its mods) and going for the nib creaper might yield unexpected benefits.

 

in my own experience i first got the ahab since it is more "popular" (i completely forgot about the creaper, tbh), and it frustrated me and i spent hours trying to "tinker" it but nothing pleased me. any amount of flex is just Too Much Work. i was just about to try out this mod when i saw a sample by someone using the creaper and decided to give it a try. it flexes much more easily than ahab out of the box, less "max width" for sure but gives enough variation on small font. (it is a small pen so large hands may cramp?)

 

still going to try this mod though, i see some potential in the ahab to make great lines but it will take some work. thanks to OP for that!

[CloaknDagr]

new user chiming in here, and going on a complete tangent-- if you have small hands and small handwriting, skipping the ahab (and its mods) and going for the nib creaper might yield unexpected benefits.

 

in my own experience i first got the ahab since it is more "popular" (i completely forgot about the creaper, tbh), and it frustrated me and i spent hours trying to "tinker" it but nothing pleased me. any amount of flex is just Too Much Work. i was just about to try out this mod when i saw a sample by someone using the creaper and decided to give it a try. it flexes much more easily than ahab out of the box, less "max width" for sure but gives enough variation on small font. (it is a small pen so large hands may cramp?)

 

still going to try this mod though, i see some potential in the ahab to make great lines but it will take some work. thanks to OP for that!

I would encourage you to do so and try this mod. It's worth the time and effort on several levels. Being as you have an Ahab anyway, you might as well help it be all it can be. Until you've done this mod, you're not really going to see the all potential that he Ahab has to offer.

 

I see that Gouletpens.com has the new Konrads out too. I think that Konrads use the same nib (#6) as the Ahab and the Nib Creaper uses a smaller nib (#2) than either Ahab or Konrad. There's no reason I'm aware of that you can't use this mod on a Nib Creaper also. What this mod does is remove some of the metal that stiffens the nib, there's no reason it shouldn't work on any steel nib meant to be a flex nib. If the Nib Creaper is already flexing well a little work should get it flexing better still. I would say to remove metal conservatively on that smaller, less rigid nib but otherwise it should work.

 

I have been thinking about trying that myself. The Nib Creaper is a very economical pen in the $15 to $16 range so it's not like hacking away at a Mont Blanc or something on that order. Now that I've performed this mod on the Ahab nib I feel comfortable enough to try it on a smaller target. I'm even more encouraged to try that now that you've said the Nib Creaper flexes fairly well out-of-the-box. The worst that could happen is I'd find the Nib Creaper as underwhelming as I did my modded Ahab and the best that could happen is that I'd end up with the EDC flex pen I've been wanting. So it's worth the gamble at the price and I appreciate you bringing it up.

 

Before I do that, if you or anyone else can think of reasons not to mod a Nib Creaper with an EMF type mod, please feel free to point them out.

[Manalto]

There's something wrong with a pen that requires eighteen pages of discussion to get it to do what it's supposed to do.

[CloaknDagr]

There's something wrong with a pen that requires eighteen pages of discussion to get it to do what it's supposed to do.

No, there's not "something wrong" with this pen, at least not inherently wrong. It's an enthusiast's tinkering platform and these 18 pages are about enthusiasts tinkering with the pen, non-enthusiasts having expectations both realistic and unrealistic, and general commentary on a pen that is meant to be worked on by it's owner.

 

If you want a pen that you don't have to do anything at all to but clean it when you take it out of the box and then ink it up -- This is not a pen you should be considering because you're not going to like it. That is why Pterodactylus' EMF mod is a topic with 18 pages of posts. We who wanted to own such a pen are commenting on this mod and the results we achieved, our impressions of the pen both modded and un-modded, what people can expect from both the pen and the modifications, etc.

 

Which is a good thing because now you can read all of this and decide if an Ahab is a pen you might want to own. If you still think that there's something wrong with a pen that requires 18 pages of discussion after reading all of this then the Ahab is definitely not for you. Consider yourself advised that the Ahab does not flex worth a darn the way it comes when you buy it.

 

That doesn't mean there's something wrong with it, it does what it's meant to do. I'm not impressed with it even so but clearly there are others who are very happy with their Ahab pens. To each his/her own.

Edited January 8, 2016 by CloaknDagr